The invention relates to a non-dusting, homogeneous pigment preparation.
Industrially, pigments are frequently not used in the form of powders, since the latter are prone to dusting, which necessitates tighter occupational hygiene safety requirements. Furthermore, powders introduced into plastics, basecoating systems, etc. are frequently observed to agglomerate, and it is very difficult or even impossible to achieve a homogeneous distribution of the pigment in the particular matrix.
Instead of pigment powders non-dusting pigment preparations are used. The components of the preparation should be highly compatible with the other components of the particular coating system and should ensure for example ready homogeneous dispersal of the preparation after it has been incorporated.
Aqueous pigment preparations, which have long been needed for example for cosmetics, are becoming increasingly important for other applications, for example for the production of waterborne paints etc., for environmental reasons.
As well as good compatibility with the other constituents of the coating system, pigment preparations must possess high stability; that is, they must not be prone to phase separation. This requirement is particularly important in the case of pigment preparations based on flaky pigments, since in the event of phase separation these pigments, owing to their structure, tend to clump together and are very difficult to redisperse and since the separation phenomenon occurs in a particularly pronounced form in pigment preparations containing flaky pigments. For instance, an aqueous pigment preparation obtained by pasting a powder of flaky pearl luster pigments with water lacks stability.
The preparations of flaky pigments hitherto developed for use in aqueous coating systems do not meet the stated requirements.